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Muricy Ramalho

Muricy Ramalho (born 30 November 1955) is a Brazilian former head coach and football player, who played as an attacking midfielder. His most recent position was as manager of Flamengo,[3] until health issues forced him to step down in 2017.

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Between 2006 and 2008, Ramalho led São Paulo to three consecutive national championships. In 2010, he also led Fluminense to the title. On 23 July 2010, it was reported that he had been offered the post of the coach of the Brazil national team,[4] to replace the sacked Dunga. His team at the time, however, Fluminense, refused to release him for the job.[5][6]

Ramalho is also known by his paulistano accent,[7] usually speaking expressions from this dialect.

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During his playing career in the 1970s, Ramalho was a midfielder with São Paulo.[8] Between 1973 and 1978, he played 177 games for the club, scoring 26 goals.[9] Later in his career, he played in Mexico, being almost unknown in Brazil during that time.[8] He was not called up for the 1978 World Cup due to a knee injury.[10] After retiring, he started his career as a head coach.[8]

Ramalho was the São Paulo youth squad head coach between 1994 and 1996.[8] He was the manager of the São Paulo team that won the Copa CONMEBOL in 1994. That team was formed from reserve and youth players, receiving the nickname "Expressinho".[8] Despite the technical limitations of the team, São Paulo won the cup, defeating Peñarol of Uruguay in the final.[8] Players such as Denílson and Rogério Ceni were discovered by Ramalho during the competition.[8]

After working for Internacional, including taking them to runners-up in the Campeonato Brasileiro de 2005, on 3 January 2006, ten years later he came back to manage São Paulo, signing a one-year contract.[12] He was the head coach of São Paulo for three years, winning the Série A three times in a row.[11] His methods and the playing style of his team did not win universal admiration, however.[13] After being eliminated from the Libertadores Cup in 2009 to Cruzeiro, his fourth consecutive elimination from the tournament, the board fired him.[14]

On 9 September 2013, after losing to Coritiba 2–0, game that kept São Paulo in relegation zone of Série A, the directors of the club sacked Paulo Autuori, signing Ramalho as his replacement. In São Paulo's official website, a report praised Autuori's work and welcomed the arrival of Ramalho, who had previously won three Brazilian leagues titles with the club.[20] He was presented on 10 September 2013, praised by João Paulo de Jesus Lopes, vice-president of the club. Ramalho stated, "We are on a phase that we cannot stay talking to players. We must have to get the victories. Each one has his own way to work. Let's keep our problems outside."[21] Ramalho's first game in charge was a 1–0 victory over Ponte Preta. During the match, São Paulo fans at the Morumbi Stadium shouted "É, Muricy" ("Yeah, Muricy") in satisfaction of Ramalho's return.[22]

On 2 November 2013, in an interview with Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, Ramalho affirmed the following words:

Winning here is always good and important anywhere, but, of course, for São Paulo it is a very different thing because I was born here, and when you have a history and win again, this history goes on and gets new chapters. In Brazil for a coach is fundamental to win, independent of the affection the supporters have for you, and São Paulo is the biggest club in Brazil and the most successful one and the fans got used to victories therefore we always have to win. But, of course, winning for São Paulo is special for me.

On 7 December 2013, Ramalho, after a very successful first year ahead of the club, renewed his contract with São Paulo for two more seasons. Upon signing, he stated, "I am happy to stay, because here is my home and the affection the supporters show for me motivates me even further. I am very happy for we have had an excellent year."[24]

On 6 April 2015, Ramalho stepped down as coach of São Paulo due to illness; he had been hospitalized in January with a digestive disease. [25]

While with Santos, in December 2011, at the final of the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup against Barcelona, and after his team lost 4–0, Ramalho praised Barça manager Pep Guardiola's work, though stated that it was simple for him since he had the financial clout to sign any player in the world. Ramalho said that European coaches would only score top marks in his book once they had the same success when coaching a Brazilian side. "Only when they win trophies here [Brazil] they will be the best coaches in the world." He was referring to the lack of funding, lack of good players – allegedly who all play in Europe – and the ever-growing pressure to perform.[27]

In February 2013, the media reported that Ramalho engaged in a verbal exchange with Neymar and Joey Barton. The latter had been little impressed by Neymar's performances in a friendly match in London, later stating, "I would not pay a lot of money to sign him." After journalists' insistence on a comment, Ramalho responded that although he meant no disrespect, he did not know who Barton was.[28]

In May 2013, Ramalho spoke about a fake profile on the social network Facebook that has a lot of friends. According to the coach, the creator of profile "must be an idiot that doesn't have anything to do. He should do something for himself, not for someone else".[29]

In July 2013, two months after leaving Santos, Ramalho said that if he was to work in Europe, he would have been given a 30-year contract and would have a statue dedicated to him afterwards because even "[Arsène] Wenger can coach Arsenal for almost 15 years having had so little success".[30] Also in July 2013, in a new interview, Ramalho spoke about players he had previously coached. According to the coach, Müller, currently a football pundit, was a "difficult player, it was complicated. It was really very hard. He was a excellent player, but ain't easy to work with him". Meanwhile, on the defender Breno, whom Ramalho coached with at São Paulo, he stated, "He thought he was [Franz] Beckenbauer."[31]

Ramalho also is known for his roughness and lack of pacience with bad journalists and those who work to create a controversy where one does not exist

In April 2014, Ramalho was praised by one journalist in reference to his past as a football player. Ramalho said he was ten times better than the present players of São Paulo. To this day, fans bring flags with his face and name to Estádio do Morumbi. "I played at least ten times better. But they haven't seen it, and I don't talk about it because it is a thing from the past. In this team, I would pick up my number 8 jersey and the coach would only have to think about the other players," he added.[32]